1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conductive paste composition for an external electrode and a multilayer ceramic electronic component including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Examples of electronic components using a ceramic material include a capacitor, an inductor, a piezoelectric element, a varistor, a thermistor, and the like.
A multilayered ceramic capacitor (MLCC) among the ceramic electronic components includes a ceramic element formed of a ceramic material, internal electrodes formed in the ceramic element, and external electrodes mounted on a surface of the ceramic element to be electrically connected to the internal electrodes, and has advantages such as a small size, high capacitance, ease of mounting, and the like.
Due to the advantages as described above, the multilayered ceramic capacitor is used as a chip type condenser mounted on a printed circuit board of several electronic products such as computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular phones, and the like to perform an important role of charging or discharging electricity and may have various sizes and stacked forms depending on use and capacity.
Recently, in accordance with miniaturization of the electronic products, it is demanded to allow the multilayered ceramic capacitor to have a subminiature size and ultra high capacitance. To this end, the multilayered ceramic capacitor having a structure in which a larger number of dielectric layers and internal electrodes are stacked has been manufactured, wherein the dielectric layer and the internal electrode have a thin thickness.
Since many functions in the field requiring high reliability, for example, automobiles, medical devices, or the like, are digitalized, the subminiaturized and ultra high capacitance multilayered ceramic capacitor is required to have the high reliability.
Examples of factors causing problems in the above-mentioned high reliability may include crack occurrence in an external electrode layer due to external impacts, permeation of plating liquid into the ceramic element through the external electrode layer at the time of performing a plating process, and the like.
Specifically, since a chip in which bending cracks do not occur after a bending test is performed thereon is in demand, it may be difficult to guarantee reliability by using a copper (Cu) paste generally used at the time of firing the external electrode.
The following Related Art Document relates to a conductive paste for an external electrode and a multilayer ceramic electronic component having an external electrode formed using the same. However, the following Related Art Document does not disclose hollow metal particles.